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PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial said he is ready to support a possible resurgence of the inactive players union.
In an interview broadcast Saturday in the Power and play On the radio show hosted by former commissioner Noli Eala, Marcial expressed his willingness to accommodate a united representation for all players.
“Personally, I agree. He’s been there before,” he said in Filipino.
First formed in 1980 with Rene Canent as its first president, the league’s players union, officially called the PBA Players Association, sought to ensure the well-being of all current and retired players, but has long been inactive. weather.
Its last president was Franz Pumaren. Other former presidents include Ramon Fernandez and Fritz Gaston.
“The union just faded away over time, but it’s still there. A union would be nice because it will help the players and it will help the league,” Marcial said.
The reinstatement of the PBA Players Union would certainly help players find recourse in the event of disputes between a player and his mother team, although no major disputes have arisen since 2015, when former first-round pick Alex Nuyles became found in a contractual row. with the Mahindra franchise.
Still, Marcial says a union would go a long way in facilitating communication between the players and the league, a benefit that would come in handy should the PBA want to hear player input, such as what happened before the season restart. 2020 in October. .
“Sometimes I have to call players from 12 teams. If they have a union, the conversations are easier. You know that it is not difficult to talk to these players,” said Marcial.
Restoring the union could also usher in a new era of player empowerment in the era of unrestricted free agency, which begins this year.
“The governors will probably add a couple of parameters (to unrestricted free agency),” Marcial said. “But no one has informed me of their desire to be one yet. Perhaps it is because their contracts will run until December, others until February.”
Prospects for Season 46
While the PBA has yet to decide whether to celebrate next season inside another bubble or not, Marcial said the scheduled date remains April 9, the day of the league’s 46th anniversary.
“We will see if there will be a vaccine for April, and then we will see the type of bubble, the place, the economy and if the Philippine government will allow the PBA to play,” Marcial said. “Maybe in February or March something will be clarified. But we are thinking of starting on April 9 if we are lucky.”
The most optimal outcome is that three conferences will be organized, but the commissioner said the PBA will surely try to push through at least two this season.
“Let’s see if we can do three conferences. If not, maybe two. If we can do three, fine. But we are going to try to play at least two this year,” said Marcial.
If the coronavirus pandemic situation improves, the PBA might even consider instituting an import-laden conference this year.
“By June and July, we will have an idea of how things will work. Will they accept imports to come here, and if they do, will they be quarantined? We will see,” he said. “Maybe they would have already been vaccinated before coming here, so they would be safe and not afraid to travel and play here. We hope that’s the case.”
On the issue of vaccinating PBA players, Marcial said there is no dialogue between the league and the government and that teams could end up bearing the costs when the time comes.
“I hope we can buy the vaccine so we can give it to the players and those who need it, but if ever, maybe the teams can bear the costs of that,” he said. “Teams can carry the vaccination for their own players, and we will vaccinate our own employees and referees.”
All that is set for now are the application deadline dates for the draft PBA and the draft itself, which are set for January 27 and March 14, respectively. Once the league closes its doors to applicants, a meeting will be held to determine if there will be another special draft of Gilas soon after.
“We will meet with the board of governors perhaps the next day or a few days later to decide how the writing will go,” he said. “The SBP has not yet decided whether or not it needs it because it doesn’t know who else will come out in favor of the draft.”
There will be no combined draft this year. Instead, the Commissioner’s Office will manage things virtually.
“We will ask them for videos and we will tell them how to get to the appropriate measures,” he shared.
Given the abundance of highly-rated prospects declaring for this year’s draft, Marcial believes the draft will remain deep even in later rounds.
“We are sure to get to the third and fourth rounds with a lot of names still on the board,” he said. “There are a lot of players, the ones who graduated from the UAAP and the NCAA, and the ones from the MPBL. The Chooks-to-Go players also said they will enter the draft.
There is also another way to play professionally for those who will not be selected, as the 3×3 league aims to finally start the action in March.
“Apart from the 12 teams, there are at least four or five teams that also want to enter the 3×3 league,” said Marcial. “We can give life to these players.”
